QuoteReplyTopic: Summer's End 2014. Any news? Posted: January 11 2014 at 06:19

I'm wondering if anyone's heard anything about this year's Summer's End(mainly which weekend it's on)? I missed the last one due to work commitments and I'm hoping that this year it coincides with my days off

2006: White Willow, Strangefish and The Flower Kings all put on excellent performances.2007: Pure Reason Revolution put on an excellent show, before Electro Pop became their major influence, and Pain of Salvation were stunning.2008: Threshold were very impressive, especially Johan Jame who was still knocking out the drum solos despite dislocating his shoulder the week before (I remember and Dean were there on the Friday night for Seasons End and Threshold), IQ and The Tangent/Beardfish combo were also very good.2009: Steve Hackett, Pallas and Pendragon were exceptional.2010: Haken were great (Tom MacLean is a great guy to chat with as well), The Watch were very good (never would have thought what amounted to a Genesis tribute band with a few of their own songs thrown in would have made an exceptional closer to the festival) and Phideaux was an amazing performance.2011: Overall I think this is the best year they've had, Lazuli, Caravan, Arena, Headspace, The Tangent and Maschine (called Concrete Lake at the time) were all brilliant and the other bands were all pretty good as well.2012: Knifeworld, Wobbler, Cyan, The Cryptic Clues (Twelfth Night by a different name) and The Enid were all excellent.2013: Sylvan were very good (surprisingly since I'm not a fan of their albums and the last time they played here they were pretty lackluster), Focus were brilliant and Thumpermonkey were an excellent find but special mention goes to Lazuli, that was arguably the best set I've ever seen and really can't wait for their UK tour in November.

I'll also mention the sole running of the Fused Festival Huw put on in 2011. Finally got to see Vanden Plas after the abortive attempt with Prog Power UK III. Threshold and Haken were as good as ever and Toxic Smile, Hookah the Fuzz and Day Six were good finds. A shame it's become clear that a Prog Metal festival in the UK is pretty unviable.

Looking at Sleeper's list,it must've been 2011 when I went. I could've sworn it was only a year ago. I missed the Friday night that time due to work but I'm hoping to catch Lazuli when they tour with Moon Safari in November

do you also go to that Prog festival they've started to hold in North Wales each March?

I'm fairly new to Summers End, having just been the last 2 years, and hoping to go again this year. I have to agree with the earlier post about Lazuli, they were exceptional. I'm hoping to see them again on their UK tour at the end of this year.

I'm presuming your comment above is referring to HRH prog. We went last year when it was held at the Magna in Rotherham. The line-up was very good, but the place was so cold that the bands were complaining, and it made enjoying the music difficult. Also the organisation is wholly commercially based, providing a very different experience from the fan orientated festivals such as Summers End, Danfest and Celebr8. Its each to their own, but I shan't be going to HRH again.

Advanced new of Summers End 2014. It'll be our tenth anniversary - so that's SE X. This year it will be on September 26 / 27 / 28. Location is still to be confirmed, so we recommend that you DO NOT book accomodation in the Forest of Dean just yet!

re your previous post, I've been out of the loop for some time and assumed that the HRH prog fest had also been held in North Wales last year; didn't realise it had moved venues. Interesting that it had been held in Rotherham... did it have anything to do with the Classic Rock Soc/ Martin Hudson, or was this a mere geographical coincidence?

Anyway, Flower Kings & Fish probably aren't big enough draws to make me travel to the North Wales coast for a weekend, so I think I'll give it a miss.

Certainly since around 2009/10 they've had very good crowd numbers, though I'm skeptical about how many more they could pull (maybe being closer to a big city will help with that, I don't know). However, it's been the sale of food, booze and t-shirts that has let them cover the costs (proggers sure can drink!).

re your previous post, I've been out of the loop for some time and assumed that the HRH prog fest had also been held in North Wales last year; didn't realise it had moved venues. Interesting that it had been held in Rotherham... did it have anything to do with the Classic Rock Soc/ Martin Hudson, or was this a mere geographical coincidence?

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Don't know why it was in Rotherham last year. Don't believe CRS had anything to do with it. Was just another of the HRH festivals. They ran 2 at the same time in Magna, HRH Prog had half the building, while HRH AOR used the rest. There was plenty of room, except in the food hall, which was mobbed as it was very small, and used by both festivals.

I can't comment on why Summer's End may be moving. It will be a shame as the hall at Lydney is perfect. I'd be surprised (but not disappointed) if it was because numbers were expected to exceed capacity. Only time will tell.

"I'm not making too much noise until we've confirmed the venue - Lydney as usual we hope. Strangely enough, even though it's not even the end of January, we have 75% of the line up sorted already. SE X (Summers End 10) is going to be - well - pretty sexy!"

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